Thursday, November 16, 2006

Work is now being done to restore the century-old terrazzo floor of the former Carnegie library. Terrazzo is a type of floor where marble is mixed with cement to provide a durable yet elegant surface. This floor will be visible in the Carnegie Museum of Montgomery County's main gallery spaces. You can read more about terrazzo flooring in Wikipedia.

Monday, November 13, 2006

What do we love about art? Is it something that deeply touches our souls? Is it the way color and form interact, or the way a piece comes together to touch our imagination? Answers to these and many other questions will be available in the Library's Mary Bishop Memorial Art Gallery at the 82nd Annual Hoosier Salon Traveling Exhibition What We Love about Art from Monday, November 13 to Thursday, December 7, 2006.

This annual exhibition of quality art by Indiana's best began in 1925 when the Daughters of Indiana opened the doors to the first Hoosier Salon exhibition at Marshal Field and Company Galleries in Chicago. In 1941 the Hoosier Salon came home to Indianapolis, where the Daughters were eager to prove that Indiana artists deserve national attention. They presented the artists with a venue in which to exhibit and hope that a Hoosier work of art will find its way into every home in the state. A lofty goal indeed, for the Salon patrons, who work diligently to achieve this goal each year.

To belong to the Salon, an artist must be a current Indiana resident, current dues-paying member, or have lived in the state for at least one year. A member of the Salon may enter up to three pieces of art each year into this juried show. In this 17th year of being housed at the Indiana State Museum, there were 537 pieces entered in the show. Of these, 180 two and three-dimensional works of art in a medley of styles and media by 137 artist members were juried into the show.

From September through January, 150 of these pieces are divided into five tours that travel to 30 venues throughout the state. There were 35 first time exhibitors. Our own Rob O'Dell and Jerry Smith were among the artists juried into the show.

The jury included Patricia Hickson, Des Moines Art Center curator and Teresa Parker, Director/Curator of the Crown Center Gallery at Chicago's Loyola University. Hickson has 12 years of curatorial experience, including curatorial work at the California's Berkeley Art Museum and the Institution of Contemporary Art in Boston, Mass. Parker has 26 years of curatorial experience and now teaches at Loyola University.

It is our hope that viewers who can, consider purchasing a piece for their own private collections and others incorporate images in their mind's eye, where they may be recalled at any time in the future.